Greg, without looking at the audio chain end-to-end, it would be difficult to know exactly where the phase error is being introduced... my guess is that somewhere along the line, the phase of the stereo audio track is being reversed 180 degrees... it could be at HBO (in which case it seems to me that everyone around the country would be hearing the same anomaly)... or it could be along the line between your cable company and your home... or it could simply be (as someone suggested earlier) a compatibility problem which results from squeezing multi-channel surround sound down to two-track stereo. I'd be interested to hear what your local cable company says!